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Sunday, February 19, 2012

Loudon Wainwright III

This is the magic of the internet. This is how I discovered musician Loudon Wainwright III, and have been listening to him for the last three days and I absolutely adore the voice.

It started with Facebook. A few months back, out of boredom perhaps, I had clicked the ‘Like’ button of a number of sundry websites. Now, they compete to hawk their stories on my Facebook dashboard. Anyway, there was a story I found interesting (I am sure, it was related to some sex scandal), I clicked on the link and visited the site. There, after reading the story, I saw a picture of Ricky Martin (remember him, the singer who recently announced that he’s gay!), in mustache. I was curious. I clicked on the picture and it took me to the site of ‘Details’ magazine. It think it was Details, I am not sure. While glancing through the interview, I saw another link, an interview with a musician called Rufus Wainwright. Frankly, I had never heard of him. He was saying something about 50 Cent being gay (remember 50 Cent, who sung, Get Rich or Die Tryin’). My interest was pricked again. I went to the interview link. In the course of the interview, I learnt that this singer, Rufus, is son of another singer, Loudon. This was another name I had never heard of. The interviewer also revealed that Loudon had composed a song for Rufus when he was young, titled ‘Rufus is a tit man’. The site had a link to the song in youtube. I clicked on the link and listened to the song.

Yes, that was it. And now, I am a fan. I leant that there was a time when Loudon Wainwright III was hailed as the new Bob Dylan, and no kidding! He’s so straightforward, and simple and eminently listenable. I also got a few albums of Rufus himself, and the hallelujah song from the film ‘Shrek’. As of now however, I think I prefer the father’s voice.

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Loudon Snowden Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946) is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.

To date, Wainwright has released 21 studio albums. Reflecting upon his career, in 1999, Wainwright stated "you could characterize the catalog as somewhat checkered, although I prefer to think of it as a tapestry."

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About Me

Dibyajyoti Sarma worked as Senior Copy Editor with a national daily published from Pune, and later in Delhi, India. He wrote his pre-doctoral thesis on Western Queer Theory and how it differs from Indian queer experience. He has published two volumes of poems 'Glimpses of a Personal History' from Writers Workshop, Kolkata, in 2004, and Pages From An Unfinished Autobiography from i, write, imprint, New Delhi, and a volume of interviews co-edited with R Raj Rao, 'Whistling in the Dark: 21 Queer Interviews' from Sage Publication, New Delhi, in 2009. He is currently working on his first novel, 'Being Alive', and a short story collection, 'Che isn't just a T-Shirt'. His writings have appeared in both print and web magazines.